Claude Fauquet

Claude Fauquet, a native of France, obtained his academic degrees from the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. Prior to co-founding ILTAB at The Scripps Research Institute with Dr. Roger Beachy in 1991, Dr. Fauquet worked for 19 years as a plant virologist for IRD, including 14 years stationed at a French research center in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Dr. Fauquet is also a member of the Graduate Faculty at University of Missouri-St. Louis, Adjunct Professor with University of Missouri-Columbia, and Co-Chair of the Global Cassava Partnership, which he founded in 2005.

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Research

ILTAB has three goals: to improve cassava productivity and quality through genetic transformation; to study and control cassava viruses; and to transfer technologies to less developed countries. A co-founder of ILTAB with Roger Beachy in 1991, Claude Fauquet became its Director in 1999.

Training, Technology Transfer and Capacity Building

Since its creation in 1991, ILTAB has trained scientists from all over the world in the technologies of genetic transformation, molecular biology and molecular virology. The mission is to build cassava improvement platforms in several countries in Africa and elsewhere, providing knowledge, standardized protocols, molecular tools, support and facilities.

Cassava Genetic Improvement

ILTAB has developed significant expertise in cassava genetic transformation to produce commercial products that are resistant to cassava viruses and have more nutritious roots. The technology is now capable of producing high quality transgenic cassava plants in a variety of farmer-preferred cultivars, with the possibility of stacking many genes expressing several important agronomic or nutritional traits.

New technologies to target transgene integration in specific places in the cassava genome are being tested and the possibility to create mini-chromosomes to express hundreds of genes in the future is being investigated.

Molecular and Cellular Virology

ILTAB has acquired substantial knowledge in molecular virology related to tropical viral diseases and to cassava viruses in particular. ILTAB has the largest collection of cassava geminivirus infectious clones. ILTAB has worked on synergism between geminiviruses and on the gene silencing defense mechanism of cassava against geminiviruses.
ILTAB is also working on cassava brown streak disease, an emerging devastating cassava disease in East Africa.

ILTAB’s ultimate goal is to control all cassava viruses to boost cassava productivity several fold for the benefit of poor farmers in Africa and in India.

Geminiviruses

Geminiviruses are single-stranded DNA viruses transmitted by whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci), and infect numerous crops and plants in the tropics. Geminivirus diseases are emerging in many places in the world, correlated with the explosion of whitefly population due to the worldwide spread of the B biotype, to insecticide overuse and global warming.

An ever-increasing number of geminivirus species devastates hundreds of crops throughout the world and several diseases are emerging to cause unprecedented pandemics. Geminivirus losses are staggering: ±$5 billion per year on tomato crops; and $1 to 2 billion per year on cotton and cassava crops, for example.

Molecular Diversity of Geminiviruses and Satellites

Geminiviruses are often associated with alphasatellites and betasatellites, the latter enhancing symptoms and playing a major role in diseases.

ILTAB has been studying geminiviruses for more than 20 years, has the largest collection of infectious clones, and a complete sequence database for geminiviruses and their satellites. ILTAB is studying the relation between these viruses, their satellites and the response of the host.

ILTAB dedicates numerous resources towards controlling these viruses in cassava, and has numerous transgenic plants to be tested in Africa and India.

Control of Geminiviruses

Geminiviruses are difficult to control. Natural resistance genes are rare and often not present in the best genetic background. The number of identified and studied geminivirus R genes is increasing, but none of these genes have yet been cloned and used. Genetic engineering is increasingly used to successfully control geminiviruses in beans, tomatoes, corn and cassava. ILTAB has a large cassava geminivirus control program in Africa.

Technologies available for license: